LOSSIEMOUTH oozes class to land second Mares' Hurdle

Lossiemouth maintained her perfect Cheltenham record in successfully defending her Close Brothers Mares’ Hurdle crown.

The six-year-old claimed the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One contest by three lengths 12 months ago and more than justified 4-6 favouritism for another impressive victory under the guidance of Paul Townend.

The Rich Ricci-owned grey sat in second for much of the race, sitting on the shoulder of her Willie Mullins-trained stablemate Jade De Grugy before making her move ahead of the final fence.

Jade De Grugy tried to push the tempo, but Lossiemouth cruised past the leader before flying over the last and kicking on to seal a seven-and-a-half-length triumph and win at the Festival for the third time. Take No Chances was third for Dan Skelton.

Plenty of the build-up to Cheltenham had surrounded whether Lossiemouth would go for the Champion Hurdle over the Mares’ Hurdle, and while two defeats this season had raised question marks, that still appeared it would be the case before a late change of heart.

Mullins said: “As a trainer and as a professional I didn’t see the work (the other day) to run her in the Champion Hurdle, which disappointed me on the day, but we had the alternative to come here and that worked.

“You have to look at Rich Ricci’s team – he hasn’t had a great year this year and we all sort of gauge ourselves by Cheltenham. I’m not sure he has another live chance of a winner this week and she was a live chance of a winner in this race.

“It was disappointing to change our minds from a two-year plan, but it was the correct decision for the connections, I think.

“For these owners that we have, it’s all about coming here and having a winner, and Paul wasn’t going to ride this mare in the Champion Hurdle. When Paul said he wasn’t going to ride her in the Champion Hurdle, that was enough of a pointer for most people.

“I was happy with where our horses were placed in the race. Danny (Mullins) said he was going to make the running on Jade De Grugy, she ran a cracker as well and there’s more big days in her, too.”

On whether Lossiemouth will be aimed at the Champion Hurdle next season, Mullins added: “I’m not going to open my mouth again!

“This is her third win in Cheltenham, which puts her in a different league from a lot of other horses, and if we want to see that battle (with the geldings) they can come to Ireland and take her on, or we might go to Liverpool for the Aintree Hurdle. It doesn’t have to be all about one day here, there are other opportunities to meet those type of horses.

“She is a mare with a nice pedigree. At the moment Rich probably has mares for racing rather than breeding. If a breeder owned her she’d probably be retired to stud, but I’d say the fact that she’s in the pink and green spots means she’ll probably race for another season at least.”

Some really good Skelton: Dan Skelton was proud of Take No Chances, who fared best of the British back in third.

“I’m very very happy with her and I have been all season to be honest, she’s run brilliantly,” said Skelton.

“You run that race a million times and the best we could be was second and we nearly were, Lossiemouth is just in a different league but we’re very proud.

“She could run again, we’ll consider Sandown and we may even enter for the mares’ race at Punchestown.”

Skelton admitted that had he trained Lossiemouth, a Champion Hurdle bid would not have been on his radar.

He said: “As controversial as it is that Lossiemouth didn’t run in the Champion Hurdle, she’s run in the race she’s most likely to win so from a professional perspective you can’t knock it. If she were mine, to be honest I’d probably have never considered the Champion Hurdle!

“I always knew we’d outrun our odds and two weeks ago when it looked like Lossiemouth wasn’t running, I even had it in my head she could go off second favourite and have a squeak of winning and it has worked out like that.

“This was my first Grade One winner at the Festival, this race, and I have a strong opinion that this race should stay.

“Saying it should go is definitely not the way forward, it has to stay, maybe in a different guise but it would be a big step backwards for the industry and the breed to lose the mares’ races.”

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[bellamccready]

Lossiemouth...i adore you ❤ God bless this lady❤

[PatriciaGuth-iv]

Wow - Lossiemouth turned on her afterburners for that stretch run! ❤

[suemaher]

Thats my girl i can understand why Ricci didnt go for the Champion but with hindsight she may have won it. Well done Lossie

[JohnDevlin-vx]

Should Mr ricci not have stuck to his guns and ran lossiemouth in the champion hurdle with the mare getting the 7lb allowance, who knows?

[hongkongfueynz]

If only they had the guts to go for the Champion Hurdle, who knows what would have happened.

[JimSharkey]

I love the mare but it’s bittersweet viewing knowing what WOULD have been at 16:10 today

[JackBurton-wx]

Classy performance by a mare who is in a different league. Congratulations to connections

[michaelc]

Terrific mare, superb performance. She was in a different league to the rest in the race.

[UNOwen-rs]

Connections must have mixed feelings today!

[MichaelMeehan-rcfm]

And Willie Mullens said this morning he wasn't overly happy with the way she galloped in the morning.. Willie well knew how she was

[wolfman]

I suppose with hindsight it was a mistake not to run her in the Champion Hurdle.

[anthonyflanagan]

I'd say he could puke after the Champion

[stevens]

That was a non event. Nothing at all to suggest she should have done anything but run in the Champion Hurdle. Shame about Hislop's, oh so predictable, fawning interviews. This decision to run here should have been condemned out of hand, not applauded. The communication of Mullins and Ricci in leading the public up the garden path was as bad as it gets. Yet the champion cap doffer gets yet another pass. The racing media is about as weak as you can possibly get. It appears the word 'criticise' has been permanently taken out of the dictionary.

[valeriegrant]

This horse would have won the big race but never less what an amazing cruise control this horse has and wins with no effort next year I think get on

[marksouthward]

Good performance but did she just give the champion hurdle away

[frankthornton]

Should have went for the champion hurdle

[Jill-ty]

Think the trainer knows how good she is, good enough for mares but not champion hurdle, mullins wants to aim his horse at races he can win, looks like he got it right again.

[martinlongworth]

People being wise after the event here.

[keithwellerlounge]

The Mares hurdle is a joke race. What is the point in it? A mare has literally just won the Champion Hurdle. They win it more than ever, in fact.

Just another modern race that has diluted the festival.

[crawford]

Lossie was cantering when the rest were hard at work. A loveky horse.